Jacob Dangler Mansion

I heard about this mansion in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, that was about to be torn down. I found some free time to travel out there and draw it for my "Before It's Gone" collection. Scaffolding already surrounded the building, and reportedly the interior had already been gutted. It was a beautiful day for sketching. A passer-by saw me drawing and said, "Beautiful, right? It's about to come down!" 

It was the usual story of the property being bought by a developer who was going to build some ugly, expensive glass apartments on the lot. And, as usual, there was a group of people protesting and trying to get the Landmarks Commission to declare it an historic site and thus save it from demolition. The big twist is that this time it worked! In literally the last minutes of the commission meeting, days before demolition was to start, they voted to consider landmark status for this building. It's not a done deal that the building will be landmarked, or what becomes of it if it is, but there's a possibility that it'll be saved.

Jacob Dangler emigrated to the U.S. as a young man from Germany in the 1860s. He began working in the grocery business in Brooklyn, eventually opening his own meat and provisions shop on Myrtle Ave. in Williamsburg in 1880. He had become prominent in the field as well as the real estate business by the turn of the 20th century. He married Louise Dangler, who kept the books for his businesses, and they had three sons.

Theobald Engelhardt, a fellow German immigrant, was a prolific architect who had a heavy hand in determining the architectural look of Bushwick, Williamsburg, and Bedford Stuyvesant. He designed Dangler's factory and other properties, and then this mansion, located near Dangler's businesses. Built in 1897, it was designed in a striking French Gothic style and cost $50,000 to construct. The huge home measures 58' X 85' (17.6m X 26m), with over 12,000 square feet (1115 sq m) of floor space, and included a bowling alley in the basement. 

Dangler died in 1939, at the age of 87. He'd never retired, working until the end of his life. His son inherited the mansion, but put it on the market in 1940. In 1943, Willow Temple, a lodge of the Knights of Pythias, purchased the building, and in 1967, it was sold to the Oriental Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star, an African-American, female-oriented masonic organization. The interior rooms were expanded, and additions were built, for use by Masonic lodges and other organizations, and for local community gatherings and events like weddings, baby showers, dances, and the like.

Links

Brownstoner History of the Dangler Mansion